Cruciformity

Description

When it was first published in 2001, Cruciformity broke new ground with a vision of Pauline spirituality that illuminated what it meant to be a person or community in Christ. Beginning with Paul’s express desire to “know nothing but Christ crucified,” Gorman showed how true spirituality is telling the story, in both life and words, of God’s self-revelation in Jesus, so that we might practice “cruciformity”—the impossible possibility of conformity to the crucified Christ.
Two decades later, Gorman’s seminal work is still a powerful model for combining biblical studies and theological reflection to make Paul’s letters more immediately relevant to contemporary Christian life. This twentieth-anniversary edition includes a new foreword by Nijay Gupta—a next-generation Pauline scholar heavily influenced by Gorman—as well as an afterword by the author, in which he reflects on the legacy of Cruciformity in the church and the academy, including his own subsequent work in Pauline theology. “Michael Gorman is that rare scholar who can write for both the academy and the church. Cruciformity is a gift to both. Gorman offers in readable form a thorough study of how the crucifixion of Jesus remakes Paul’s understanding of God and undergirds his views of what it means to be in Christ. In its exploration of how the apostle experienced God’s love and grace through ‘the strange story of Christ crucified,’ Cruciformity charts a path for how that story might continue to shape daily lives today, in cruciform faith, hope, love, and power.”
— Rebekah Eklund Loyola University Maryland
“Thanks to Michael J. Gorman, ‘cruciform’ has come to describe the architecture of Christian community even more than the architecture of Christian buildings, with the term becoming an essential lens through which we view the apostle Paul’s pastoral theology. Cruciformity is an indispensable resource because Gorman’s careful scholarship and pastoral concern mirror the apostle Paul’s own efforts to illuminate the implications of Jesus’s ignominious public lynching. Bible teachers and students should keep Cruciformity nearby as a handy reference whenever studying Paul’s writings.”
— Dennis R. Edwards North Park Theological Seminary
Praise for the original edition: “Michael Gorman has provided us with a splendid account of a forgotten factor in Pauline studies—the origin and meaning of the apostle’s spirituality. Clearly written and carefully researched, this work illustrates how the cross of Christ is the key to Paul’s spirituality—and to our own as well.”
— Frank J. Matera author of God’s Saving Grace: A Pauline Theology “In Cruciformity Michael Gorman rigorously works through the ways in which Paul narrates himself into the ongoing drama of God’s salvation revealed in the cross and resurrection. Gorman’s accessible prose nicely displays how Paul comes to understand and embody a life that seeks to be conformed to the cross of Christ. In an age when spirituality is often simply a mask for self-projection and self-assertion, Gorman’s Paul reminds Christians that such vital matters as faith, hope, love, and power should be shaped by the story of the crucified and resurrected one rather than by our own whims and desires. This book is readable and timely, and it will enhance the lives of contemporary Christians.”
— Stephen E. Fowl Loyola University Maryland
“Both scholarly stimulation and spiritual nurturing are to be found in reading this book. Michael Gorman masterfully conjoins knowledge and vital piety—a conjunction noted more for its absence than its presence in the academy today. Gorman interacts creatively and effectively with past and current scholarship on Paul and Pauline theology, and he provides cogent arguments against some of the special-interest readings of Paul. This book has the potential to challenge both the academy and the church to a reconsideration of Paul that could revolutionize Pauline scholarship and transform the life of the church in the world.”
— M. Robert Mulholland Jr. author of Shaped by the Word: The Power of Scripture in Spiritual Formation “This scholarly work would make good reading during Lent and Holy Week.”
— America “This is a good read, and not only for those interested in Pauline studies or Christian spirituality. . . . In an undemanding style without assuming detailed knowledge of Paul’s letters on the part of the reader, it makes a good general introduction to the apostle’s theology.”
— Pacifica Michael J. Gorman holds the Raymond E. Brown Chair in Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland, where he has taught since 1991. A highly regarded New Testament scholar, he has also written Inhabiting the Cruciform God, Becoming the Gospel, and Apostle of the Crucified Lord, among other significant works.

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